The number of victims of crimes recorded by police increased between 1999 and 2000 for almost all of the offences listed in table 11.6. The largest proportional increases were recorded for victims of driving causing death (12%), sexual assault (11%) and other theft (10%). The main falls were for murder and kidnapping/abduction (by 12% and 10% respectively). As well as increases in the number of victims, there have also been increases in victimisation rates for many of the offence types.

The annual recorded counts for murder victims in Australia have fluctuated over the period 1995 to 2000. This is due in large part to the following incidents: Tasmania in 1996 where 35 lives were taken in a single incident at Port Arthur; South Australia in 1999 where 12 bodies were discovered at Snowtown; Western Australia in 1999 where 9 victims resulted from two family murder/suicide incidents; and Queensland in 2000 where victims of the fire at Childers were recorded. Despite this fluctuation in the number of murders victims, the victimisation rates for murder in Australia have remained relatively stable over the last six years, ranging from 1.5 to 1.8 victims per 100,000 persons.

11.6NUMBER OF VICTIMS AND VICTIMISATION RATE, BySelected Offences Recorded by Police

Offence category

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

NUMBER

Homicide and related offences

976

1,027

n.a.

995

970

989

Murder

326

312

321

285

343

302

Attempted murder

300

335

318

387

359

391

Manslaughter

30

38

39

47

43

44

Driving causing death(a)

320

342

n.a.

276

225

252

Assault

101,710

114,156

124,500

130,903

134,271

141,124

Sexual assault

13,099

14,542

14,353

14,336

14,104

15,630

Kidnapping/abduction

459

480

562

705

766

688

Robbery

14,564

16,372

21,305

23,801

22,606

23,314

Armed robbery

5,258

6,256

9,054

10,850

9,452

9,474

Unarmed robbery

9,306

10,116

12,251

12,951

13,154

13,840

Blackmail/extortion

157

268

360

272

255

254

Unlawful entry with intent

385,162

402,079

421,569

434,376

415,735

436,865

Property theft

303,227

313,902

332,525

339,512

322,983

(b)n.a.

Other

81,935

88,177

89,044

94,864

92,752

(b)n.a.

Motor vehicle theft(c)

127,094

122,914

130,138

131,587

129,552

139,094

Other Theft

490,518

521,762

530,881

563,482

612,559

674,813

RATE PER 100,000 POPULATION

Homicide and related offences

5.4

5.6

n.a.

5.3

5.1

5.2

Murder

1.8

1.7

1.7

1.5

1.8

1.6

Attempted murder

1.7

1.8

1.7

2.1

1.9

2.0

Manslaughter

0.2

0.2

0.2

0.3

0.2

0.2

Driving causing death(a)

1.8

1.9

n.a.

1.5

1.2

1.3

Assault

562.9

623.5

672.2

699.0

709.2

736.8

Sexual assault

72.5

79.4

77.5

76.6

74.5

81.6

Kidnapping/abduction

2.5

2.6

3.0

3.8

4.0

3.6

Robbery

80.6

89.4

115.0

127.1

119.4

121.7

Armed robbery

29.1

34.2

48.9

57.9

49.9

49.5

Unarmed robbery

51.5

55.3

66.1

69.2

69.5

72.3

Blackmail/extortion

0.9

1.5

1.9

1.5

1.3

1.3

Unlawful entry with intent

2,131.7

2,196.2

2,276.2

2,319.5

2,195.7

2,280.8

Property theft

1,678.2

1,714.6

1,795.4

1,812.9

1,705.8

(b)n.a.

Other

453.5

481.6

480.8

506.6

489.9

(b)n.a.

Motor vehicle theft(c)

703.4

671.4

702.7

702.7

684.2

726.2

Other theft

2,714.7

2,850.0

2,866.4

3,008.9

3,235.2

3,523.1

(a) A change in the recording practices for driving causing death offences in New South Wales resulted in incomplete counts for this offence in 1997.(b) A change in the legislation related to unlawful entry with intent (UEWI) offences in South Australia resulted in an inability to provide UEWI disaggregated into property theft and other for 2000.(c) Counts for motor vehicle theft prior to 1997 are not directly comparable with those for other years as Western Australia included the theft of caravans and trailers in addition to motor vehicle theft.

Source: Recorded Crime, Australia (4510.0).

Personal crime

Males were more likely than females to be victims of personal crime, with two exceptions: sexual assault and kidnapping/abduction (graph 11.7). The sexual assault victimisation rate for females (129 victims per 100,000) was more than four times the male victimisation rate (29 victims per 100,000). Males experienced higher recorded assault rates across all age groups.

As table 11.6 shows, assault is the most common category of offences recorded against the person; police recorded 141,124 victims of assault during 2000, representing a victimisation rate of 737 victims per 100,000 persons. There were 15,630 cases of sexual assault recorded, a rate of 82 victims per 100,000 persons, and 302 victims of murder, a rate of 1.6 victims per 100,000 persons.

Property crime

Unlawful entry with intent (UEWI) and other theft are the most frequently occurring of the more serious property offences. The UEWI victimisation rate increased 13% between 1995 and 2000 to be 2,281 victims per 100,000 persons in 2000. The victimisation rate for motor vehicle theft increased by 9% between 1995 and 2000. The rate of other theft was 3,523 victims per 100,000 persons, representing a 38% increase since 1995.

Age and sex of victims

Young people aged 15-24 years in particular, and those aged 25-34 years to a slightly lesser extent, experienced the highest levels of recorded crime victimisation. For the main offence categories (assault, sexual assault and robbery) the rates for these groups were at least twice the average for those offences (table 11.8).

11.8 VICTIMISATION RATES(a) OF SELECTED CRIMES(b), By Age and Sex-2000

Offence category

0-14

15-19

20-24

25-34

35-44

45 and over

Total(d)

MALES

Murder

0.3

2.2

2.2

2.7

2.9

1.8

1.9

Attempted murder

1.0

2.8

7.0

5.9

2.9

1.4

2.8

Driving causing death

0.5

4.1

3.3

1.9

1.3

1.1

1.5

Assault

329.8

1,731.0

1,653.7

1,517.5

941.8

359.5

839.7

Sexual assault

78.3

54.2

30.4

19.0

8.5

1.9

29.4

Kidnapping/abduction

4.9

5.9

6.5

2.5

1.3

0.4

2.7

Robbery(c)

48.5

548.3

310.7

152.8

92.5

46.4

128.2

Blackmail/extortion(c)

n.p.

2.5

1.7

1.7

3.1

1.5

1.6

FEMALES

Murder

0.5

1.2

2.1

2.2

1.8

0.8

1.2

Attempted murder

0.6

0.6

1.7

2.3

2.1

0.7

1.2

Driving causing death

0.3

2.4

1.1

1.2

0.5

0.9

0.9

Assault

210.4

1,298.0

1,317.0

1,119.6

707.8

186.4

579.6

Sexual assault

250.7

430.7

204.1

121.1

64.1

13.4

128.9

Kidnapping/abduction

8.1

17.8

7.7

4.5

1.6

0.4

4.5

Robbery(c)

9.6

134.5

136.7

83.5

63.0

54.9

63.8

Blackmail/extortion(c)

-

0.6

0.6

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5

PERSONS

Murder

0.4

1.7

2.1

2.5

2.3

1.3

1.6

Attempted murder

0.8

1.7

4.4

4.1

2.5

1.0

2.0

Driving causing death

0.4

3.3

2.2

1.6

0.9

1.0

1.3

Assault

272.2

1,524.9

1,497.9

1,325.5

828.3

270.9

736.8

Sexual assault

162.7

238.9

115.9

70.2

36.5

7.9

81.6

Kidnapping/abduction

6.5

11.7

7.1

3.5

1.5

0.4

3.6

Robbery(c)

29.7

347.7

227.2

118.8

78.3

51.1

97.9

Blackmail/extortion(c)

n.p.

1.6

1.2

1.2

1.9

1.0

1.1

(a) Rate per 100,000 population.(b) As recorded by police forces in all jurisdictions.(c) For Robbery and Blackmail/extortion where the victim can be an organisation, figures shown only include person victims. (d) Includes victims for whom age and/or sex was not specified.

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